WeziWezi A New Twitter Clone From The Arab World But Location Based, With Universal SMS …More like BrightKite!

18 Aug, 2009

I do not understand why some people clone something famous, well this is somehow the case of WeziWezi, the new twitter like microblogging, 1 to 1 and group messaging project that was just launched in Beta stage from Amman, Jordan.

Right now, WeziWezi has the same features you already find on Twitter and its other regional clone WatWet but with less user friendly Interface: You can follow and unfollow, @messages, direct message and favorites. Also on WeziWezi, you can upload photos to your timeline; which is available on WatWet, as for Twitter photo upload is available via third party apps like Twitpic and Flikcr.

WeziWezi differs in the following:

1- Right now WeziWezi has worldwide SMS notifications you will get free 10 or 20 messages per month but you you have to buy credit for more and it works with all operators worldwide (I have not tested this feature) , but you cannot update your status via SMS (planned within 3 months.) Twitter on the other hand has no Free SMS notifications in the Arab world yet, though this might to be coming soon. As for WatWet, SMS notifications is limited in Jordan to one operator: Zain, Jawwal in Palestine, MTC Touch Lebanon, STC and Zain KSA in Saudi Arabia.
2- Location Based social media (LBS)is not functioning right now, Ameer Omari the founder of WeziWezi told ArabCrunch, that he is going to launch this feature within a week, where people can know where their friends are right now on the map (using Google maps API) At the first stage he will do this via tracking your IP, later it can be done manually and as well as via Mobile apps . He also said that there will be location privacy settings, where users can show their location to their friends only.
This Sounds like Brightkite, right? Close to Google Latitude?!

3- IM support: this feature is what Twitter had , which later was canceled because of the high costs of server hosting that are associated with providing the service. WeziWezi , according to Amir will have this feature within 3 or 6 month. The IMs notifications he said will include: @s and direct messages, and all the updates of the people you follow.

4- Groups: Twitter has no groups the same for WatWet, which is a killing point to many users, though it is available via third party apps which is not provide friendly solution because you need to setup a new group and add users , every time you use a new app, plus there is an API update limit, so the more groups you add the more you consume your limits. WeziWezi groups on the other hand, will be public and can be followed and joined by anyone and anyone can start one.
5- Threaded replies: one of the beauties of FriendFeed is threaded replies. Twitter does not have this feature nor WatWet. WeziWezi is planning to add this feature within 1 to 2 weeks.

6- Native Mobile apps: Ameer told me that WeziWezi will launch 2 Mobile applications: one based on Flash light and the other based on Symbion S60 third and second edition. Users will be able to use all WeziWezi features on them plus they will be used for location tracking ( he can use WeNear API for help in this regard). Twitter does not have an official mobile app, however 10s or more apps are available in virtually all mobile devices via third party developers. WatWet has plans to launch mobile apps with no clear launch date.

Finally, WeziWezi has a public API (both Twitter and WatWet have this too) and will launch its Arabic Interface within 6 months as Amir told me. He also said he is targeting Arab users.

Good Luck WeziWezi, tough market to compete at. Early Arab Tech adaptors already using Twitter now, I think it is hard to switch them over WeziWezi, what do you think?

Ameer Omari 25 year’s old freelance developer from Amman, Jordan. WeziWezi is his part time project.

It's good to see more entrepreneurial spirit in the middle east… well done to Ameer and his team. The UI seems quite weak in comparison with some of the others, and the messaging is quite weak or even incorrect grammatically. If the developments come through, then it might have some legs to compete with the likes of WatWet and Twitter… but with all these things, even with the best technology or UI, it won't work if there's no traction or community. So that probably needs to be the main focus for the next few months.

Incidentally, is there an exit strategy? or monetizing strategy for this?

Let's give those guys a break. I'm sure they will customize it more to improve usability down the line. Using a ready made solution is a smart quick start, but the real challenge lies ahead in finding a good reason to exist.

p.s. Any aspiring Twitter Cloners out there can check out: http://revou.com/ it's what WeziWezi use.